American Jan. 6 Insurrectionist Wanted By FBI Finds Asylum In Putin-Allied Belarus

A man who participated in the attempted Capitol Insurrection during the certification vote for President Joe Biden has been granted asylum in Belarus on Tuesday, March 22, as the FBI continues to prosecute many who participated in the deadly riot.

Forty-eight-year-old Evan Neumann, who used to live in California, was granted asylum months after appearing on Belarusian television and begging the country’s government to grant him the status of refugee due to the criminal charges awaiting him in the United States, according to the Daily Beast.

“I feel safe in Belarus. It’s calm, I like it in this country. Today I am experiencing mixed feelings. I’m glad that Belarus has taken care of me. I’m upset that I wound up in this situation, that in my native country there were such problems,” he said.

Neumann was being charged with violently breaking into the Capitol and assaulting a police officer, with body cam footage placing him in the area during the insurrection. He also reportedly “shoved” a metal barricade into officers in the area, CBS News reported.

At the advice of his lawyer, Neumann fled the country in March 2021, ending up in Ukraine for a few months before he realized that he was being watched by the country’s security forces. He then went through a swamp near Chernobyl before entering Belarus and asking for asylum.

“It was very difficult to cross it, I started around noon and was only able to get out by half-past two in the morning," Neumann said. “I've seen wild boars, bumped into snakes, vipers there just go crazy in August, they are very aggressive."

Neumann himself has not taken responsibility for his actions during the Capitol Riots, claiming that he was in the right and that he participated in these acts for his children’s future. He also claimed that he did not hit a police officer despite evidence to the contrary.

“I do not believe that I have committed any crime. One of the accusations was very upsetting. It is alleged that I hit a police officer. That is baseless,” he said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been using the Capitol Insurrection as a talking point against the West, calling it “undemocratic” in the way the rioters have been treated, and claiming that the United States is unstable because of it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is an ally of Lukashenko, has also committed himself to the side of the Insurrectionists, saying, “They weren't just a crowd of robbers and rioters. Those people had come with political demands.”